Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 14 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup maraschino cherries (140g/5oz drained)
113 g unsalted butter (1 stick / ½ cup / 4oz)
225 g plain flour (all-purpose flour) (1 ¾ cups / 8oz)
¾ teaspoon baking soda (bicarb soda)
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup white granulated sugar (135g / 4.8oz)
¼ cup light brown sugar (50g / 1.8oz)
1 large egg, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips (semi-sweet) (180g / 6.4oz)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
Drain the cherries and chop them into halves or quarters, depending on their size. Place them on a couple of sheets of paper towels and press down gently on top with another sheet to remove excess juice.
Place the butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Heat swirling until the butter melts and starts to bubble. Let it bubble away, swirling every so often until the bubbles turn foamy and the butter is amber brown in colour.
Slowly pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl, letting it dribble in so you can hold back any burnt solids. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Add the sugars to the browned butter and whisk until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
Add the flour mixture and use a folding and cutting motion with a spatula until just combined.
When the flour is 90% mixed through, set aside 1 small handful of each of the chocolate chips and the chopped maraschino cherries, and add the rest to the dough. Fold until combined.
Use a 3 tablespoon sized scoop, packing the cookie dough in, to scoop golf ball-sized balls of dough and transfer to the baking trays. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bits might fall off, but just press them back in.
Add a couple of chocolate chips and a cherry piece to the top of each. just lightly digging them in.
Bake for around 12-14 minutes. As soon as you take the trays out of the oven, you can use a round cookie cutter and swirl it around the cookie to make them more round if you like.
Allow them to cool on the trays for a few minutes before using a spatula to help transfer them to a cooling rack. Once cool, they will firm up and be crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle
Notes:
I use the Tania brand, 340g jar of maraschino cherries, and this yields about 1 cup or close enough to it.
You can use a 2 tablespoon volume cookie scoop too – bake the cookies for only 9-10 minutes though.
All ovens vary – check your cookies at 8 minutes – they should look dry and ‘set’ but will still be very soft.
For the best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap, but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
Cookie texture is a matter of personal preference. If you want your maraschino cherry cookies just cooked through, stick to 12 minutes. I grew up with cookies, or as we call them, biscuits, being crunchy all the way through, and technically that’s still my preference, but I can’t deny how good a cookie with a soft centre is either! For a crunchier outside but still a soft inside, cook for 13-14 minutes.
These cherry chocolate chip cookies are seriously easy to make, but here are a few tips for perfection.
Drain and dry the cherries: So that your cookies don’t come out with soggy bits, make sure to fully drain the cherries first and then dry them between paper towels to remove any excess liquid.
Chop the cherries: Make sure to chop the cherries in half at the very least, so that you can also check to make sure there are no stones left in them. I found one when I was chopping, and it could have hurt crunching down on that.
Don’t throw away the cherry juice: Look, it’s your call, maraschino cherries are obviously sweet from sugar and have high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients list too – I know some are very opposed to this. But if you’re not, try adding some of that syrup to a glass of milk, as if you were making cordial. It’s so yum, and it’s not like it’s part of your regular diet, so a treat’s ok.
Weigh the flour: It’s so important to weigh dry ingredients like flour or cocoa, for instance. Different methods of measuring can result in very different amounts, and a little too much or too little flour can completely change your cookie results.
Bake a tester: I often suggest baking off 1 or 2 cookies first, then let them cool for 10 minutes before baking the rest. From that tester, you’ll know the result you get from your oven and your baking trays, and know exactly how long you need to bake to get the texture you like.
Yield and storage:
This cherry chocolate chip cookie recipe makes 13-14 cookies using a 3-tablespoon scoop. If you want more, use a 2-tablespoon scoop, and you’ll get around 19 cookies – just remember to cut the baking time down to 9-10 minutes.
The cookies can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze these maraschino cherry cookies. Store them in an airtight container or ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe courtesy of Sugar Salt Magic.com
